与新客户合作受限、被扣留薪酬！“四大”某记退伙协议引争议_新浪财经

近日，跳槽至竞争对手咨询公司的前普华永道合伙人表示，他们受到了不合理的限制，这些限制阻止他们向新客户提供服务，并扣留了部分薪酬以确保他们遵守规定。

已经离开或打算离开普华永道的合伙人已寻求法律建议，以遵守普华永道合伙契约的退出条款，一位合伙人称该契约“令人愤慨、繁重且不可执行”。

普华永道表示，合伙人是自愿签订协议的，退出条件与专业服务公司的其他合伙协议没有什么不同。

《澳大利亚金融评论》获悉，不断变化的退出条件的一个版本称，合伙人若退出，便将不能与其在过去三年中提供过建议或服务的客户合作。

一名不愿透露姓名的合伙人表示，这实际上排除了两年内与任何ASX500或政府客户合作的可能性——远远超出了合伙人不能带走直接客户的限制。

《金融评论》了解到，尽管普华永道上月以1美元的价格将其政府咨询部门出售给私募股权公司Allegro Funds，但这些条件仍然适用于政府客户。

“合伙人自愿加入协议”

这些合伙人每月获得利润分成。他们还被告知，在6个月的通知期内，普华永道将扣留他们50%至100%的工资，最长可达一年。

在过去18个月里，普华永道合伙协议中引入了一条件，该条件规定，合伙人离开公司12个月后，合伙董事会将自行决定支付全部或按建议比例扣缴的收入。

普华永道发言人在回答《金融评论》的问题时表示：“普华永道澳大利亚公司的合伙条款与其他专业服务公司和其他行业的合伙条款没有什么不同。合伙人是公司的部分所有者，自愿加入合伙关系。”

来自竞争对手公司的两位消息人士证实，普华永道正试图通过高压手段和“危言耸听”策略阻止员工离职。

他们说：“（普华永道）正试图通过立即扣留他们的薪酬来阻止员工离开。”

普华永道正在努力应对员工外流的问题，知情人士表示，一旦年度奖金发放，将加速员工外流。

退出的合伙人告诉《金融评论》，他们觉得这些限制没有得到一致实施，表现最好的公司面临着最严格的谈判。

“如果你做得好，他们会让你很难离开，”一位合伙人说。

联邦政府正在审查限制贸易条件的规定，因为研究发现，五分之一的职员的合同中有竞业禁止条款，包括瑜伽老师和卡车司机等工作。

今年早些时候，竞争部助理部长Andrew Leigh要求澳大利亚竞争与消费者委员会就竞业禁止条款的影响以及政府应采取何种行动来处理这些条款向他提供建议。

原英文报道如下：

PwC partners who have recently left for rival consultancies say they are being hit with unreasonable restrictions that prevent them from providing services to new clients, and the withholding of part of their pay to make sure they comply.

Partners who have left or are in the process of leaving the embattled firm have sought legal advice to navigate the exit terms of the PwC partnership deed, which one partner described as “outrageous, onerous and unenforceable”.

The firm says partners enter into the agreement voluntarily and the exit conditions are not dissimilar to other partnership agreements for professional services firms.

PwC is grappling with the fallout from a tax leaks scandal which involved partners using confidential government information to help US tech giants sidestep tax laws that a PwC partner was helping Treasury design.

The Australian Financial Review was told one version of the ever-changing exit conditions said partners were informed they would be unable to work with clients that any partner in their business unit had provided with advice or services in the past three years.

For the partners, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, that effectively ruled out working with any ASX500 or government client for two years extending far beyond restrictions that state partners can’t take their direct clients with them.

The Financial Review understands the conditions still applied to government clients, despite PwC last month selling its government consulting arm for $1 to private equity firm Allegro Funds.

‘Partners enter the agreement voluntarily’

The partners, who are paid a monthly profit share, were also told that PwC would withhold between 50 per cent to 100 per cent of their salary during their six-month notice period for up to one year.

The condition, which was introduced to the PwC partnership agreement in the past 18 months, says the withheld income – either in its entirety or at a recommended percentage – would be paid out 12 months after the partner leaves the firm at the discretion of the partnership board.

In response to questions from the Financial Review, a PwC spokeswoman said: “Partnership terms at PwC Australia are not dissimilar to those at other professional service firms and across other industries. Partners, who are part owners of the firm, enter the partnership voluntarily.”

Two sources from rival firms that are trying to poach partners from PwC confirmed the firm was trying to discourage staff from leaving through heavy-handed and “scaremongering” tactics.

“[PwC] are trying to prevent people leaving by immediately withholding their draw. Talk about destroying their income, then slapping with prohibitive measures to restrict them from moving,” they said.

(A draw is the money paid out from a business to its partners.)

PwC is grappling with an exodus of staff that insiders say is likely to accelerate in September once annual bonuses hit bank accounts.

The exiting partners told the Financial Review they felt the restrictions had not been applied consistently, with top performers facing the most strict negotiations.

“If you’re doing well, they make it hard to leave,” one partner said.

On Friday, the NSW Supreme Court ruled PwC had failed to follow due process when the firm attempted to force partner Richard Gregg to retire in July.

The federal government is reviewing rules on restraint of trade conditions, as research found one in five workers have a non-compete clause in their contract, including for jobs such as yoga teachers and truck drivers.

Earlier this year, Assistant Minister for Competition Andrew Leigh asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to advise him of the effect of the non-compete clauses, and what action the government should take to deal with them.